


A Winter's Night in LA

by Dusty1918



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Baby PeggySous, F/M, POV, Snow in LA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 11:48:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8978431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dusty1918/pseuds/Dusty1918
Summary: When he visits Peggy and Daniel in LA in January 1949, all Jack Thompson wanted was a warm day at the beach. Instead he gets a snow storm and Peggy in labor.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was an experiment to try and stay in Jack's POV.

Tuesday, January 11, 1949  
Los Angeles, CA

 

The need to take a piss wakes Jack Thompson from his sleep. Opening his eyes, it takes him a moment to remember where he is: Sousa and Carter’s guest room. There is a crib in the corner because the room is due to become a nursery when the little Sousa is born in a few weeks. When they’d picked him up at the airport on Saturday, Jack had been surprised to see how big she was. “Damn, Carter! How many rugrats do you have in there?,” he’d asked her. She hadn’t punched him in the face but did give him a swift kick to the shin.

Jack heads to the can and takes care of business. He takes a look out the bathroom window before returning to his room. Shit, he hadn’t imagined it. There are several inches of snow on the ground. What the hell was it doing snowing in LA? And of course everyone was going crazy about weather that was nothing to New Yorkers. Hell, they’d gotten almost 26 inches in the Blizzard of ‘47. LA gets less than ½ a foot and the city shuts down, including the roads. 

He leaves the bathroom and turns to go back to his room but a noise draws him to the kitchen. Changing direction, he heads to the kitchen. He finds Peggy walking back and forth with one hand on her lower back and the other on her swollen abdomen.

“What are you doing up?”

She jumps slightly at his voice and turns to him. “I didn’t wake you, did I, Jack?”

“No, the bourbon I drank before bed did. I repeat, what are you doing up?”

“Having contractions.”

Jack’s forehead wrinkles in concern. “Shouldn’t we wake Sousa and get you to the hospital?”

“No need. These are what my doctor calls Braxton Hicks contractions. I’ve been having them for weeks. Supposedly, they are helping my body prepare for labor.”

“That sounds like fun,” Jack says sarcastically as he sits down at the kitchen table.

“Oh, they are delightful,” Peggy replies. “I’m going to have a glass of water. Would you like one?”

“Sure.” Jack turns from her to look at yesterday’s newspaper on the table. He hears Peggy open a cabinet a moment before she says, “maybe I was mistaken.”

“What was that, Peggy?” He turns back to look at her. She is not looking at him. She is looking down. He follows her eyes to the wet spot forming on her pajama pants. “Did you just piss yourself?”

“No, Jack, it appears I was mistaken and am, in fact, in labor. I believe my water has broken.”

“Now? I thought you weren’t due for a few weeks,” he says as he quickly stands and crosses the room to her. He steers her to the chair he’d vacated.

“Apparently, the baby did not get the memo.”

“Well, what do we do?”

“First of all, I need you to go get Daniel, please?”

“OK. Will you be alright here?”

“I’ll be fine.” As Jack nears the kitchen door, he hears her voice. “Thank you, Jack.”

He turns back to her. “No problem, Marge,” he says with a smile. He hears her chuckle as he leaves the room.  
\-----  
Jack opens the door to Peggy and Daniel’s bedroom without knocking. He finds his west coast counterpart sprawled out on his stomach asleep.

“Sousa. Sousa.” He gets no response so he tries again but shakes Daniel by the shoulder as well. “Sousa. Sousa”

Daniel lifts his head and squints up at Jack. “Jack, what do you want? We are trying to sleep.” He turns his head, apparently checking to see if his wife is still asleep. That side of the bed is empty. Daniel turns back to Jack with confusion on his face. “Where’s Peg?”

“That is why I’m here. She is in the kitchen and says the baby is coming. Says her water broke.”

This information seems to hit Daniel like cold water. He sits up in the bed and moves to stand. 

“Whoa, there!,” Jack says as he lays a hand on Daniel’s chest. “You don’t have your leg on. If you try and stand, you are going down.” Looking to his side, he sees the other man’s artificial leg. He has seen it before but never this close. Pointing to it, he tells Daniel, “put that on and meet us in the kitchen.”

“Ok.” As Jack turns to leave, he hears Daniel’s voice. “Thank you, Jack.”

“No problem, Sousa.”  
\-----  
5 minutes later, Daniel joins Peggy and Jack in the kitchen. The two men help her return to her bedroom. It is a good thing Jack is there because during one strong contraction, she leans on Daniel with all of her weight and would have taken them both down if Jack wasn’t there to support her from behind. 

Once they get her settled back in bed, Jack looks back and forth between the Sousas. “What do we do now?,” he asks. 

“Seeing as Los Angeles does not have the equipment to clear the roads, it looks like we're doing this here. Daniel, please get me a clean nightgown out of the drawer. I’ve soaked through these pajamas. Also, I believe bath towels will prove useful. Jack, the number for our neighbors, the Lees, is beside the telephone in the kitchen. He is a doctor and she is a midwife. Please call them and let them know we need their services.”

They stare at her in confusion. 

“Good lord, men. You have your orders. Get to it! I don’t have all day.”  
\-----  
After several rings, a man answers the phone. “Hello?,” he says sleepily. 

“Hello, Dr. Lee. You don’t know me but I’m Jack Thompson, a friend of your neighbors, Daniel and Peggy Sousa. I apologize for waking you but their baby decided to come tonight.”

“We’ll be over in a few minutes.” The phone’s dial tone told Jack the other man has hung up.  
\-----  
15 minutes later, the Lees arrive. After showing them to Sousa and Carter’s bedroom, Jack grabs the pillow and blanket from his room. Since his room is right next to their room, he knows whatever noises having a baby involves will keep him awake. He calls Rose to let her know they won't be into the office today (he could have gone without her squeal of excitement) before curling his frame up on the living room couch. “All I wanted was a warm day at the beach” is his last thought before sleep claims him.  
\-----  
“Jack. Jack”

Jack squints as his eyes adjust to the light coming in the windows. “Hmmm?” Daniel is standing next to the couch. 

“Wake up. There is somebody who wants to meet you.”

Jack reluctantly gets up and follows him down the hall. 

“Come on, Jack.” Daniel opens the bedroom door to reveal Peggy sitting up in the bed with a bundle in her arms. Her hair is loose, her face makeup free, and her eyes look tired. But with the smile on her face, Jack has never seen her look prettier. Daniel motions to a chair next to the bed for Jack to sit in. 

“So, this is it? There was only one in there?” Peggy folds back the blanket so Jack can see the baby. 

“Yes, Jack, there was only one in there and ‘it’ is a boy. Would you like to hold him?” A look of terror flashes across Jack’s face. “It’s alright, Jack. He won’t hurt you. Daniel, can you show him how to hold his arms, please?”

“Of course. You’ve never held a baby before, have you?” Jack shakes his head. “Nothing to it. Just make sure you hold his head up.” Jack positions his arms like Daniel’s and Peggy passes the baby over. 

“What happens if I don’t hold his head up?”

“He will explode,” Peggy answers with a straight face. Jack’s eyes go wide. “I am kidding. He doesn’t yet have the strength to hold it up himself so we have to help him. Poor chap has his father’s large head, I am afraid.” She smiles up at Daniel. “Would you like to know his name?” Jack nods as Daniel sits on the bed near Peggy's knees. 

“Michael Ian Sousa,” Daniel answers. 

“Ian. Isn’t that a form of John?”

“Yes, it’s Scottish. We named him after you, Jack.”

Jack looks up at them. “Really? After all of the horrible things I have said and done to the two of you?”

“Think of all the good things you have done, Jack.”

“I suppose I have done a couple of good things. Wait? You also named him after your brother who shot me.”

“Like you, Michael has done good things and bad things. It doesn't make him any less a member of our family.”

“OK, but you might want to wait a while before telling him that his uncle shot his godfather.”

Daniel shakes his head. “Oh, you aren’t his godfather. We don’t trust you enough for that. Or Stark for that matter.”

“We are asking the Jarvises to serve as Michael’s godparents,” Peggy continues with a smile. 

“Good, I was afraid for a moment that the two of you had lost your minds.”

**Author's Note:**

> It really did snow in LA in January 1949. For articles and photos, visit:  
> http://www.sbsun.com/events/20160111/how-residents-dealt-with-the-snow-deep-freeze-in-1949  
> http://framework.latimes.com/2013/01/11/in-1949-the-snowman-socked-los-angeles/#/0  
> http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jan/10/local/me-62234
> 
> I lived through the severe winter storm right before the Super Bowl in 2011. I remember the media from up north being amazed we didn't have things like snowplows. Like LA, we don't normally need stuff like that.


End file.
